It is well known in motor vehicles to fixedly mount one end of the seat belt on one side of the seat and to releasably connect the other end of the seat belt at the other side of the seat by a separable seat belt buckle. Such seat belt buckles typically include a housing having a detent which is movable by a spring into the path of entry of an apertured latch plate attached to the seat belt. When the latch belt is inserted, the latch belt cams the detent out of the path of entry of the latch plate against the bias of the spring and then urges the detent into seat belt locking engagement within the aperture of the latch plate. A push button is depressed to move the detent against the spring bias for disengagement from the apertured latch plate to permit removal of the latch plate from the buckle.
Prior art buckles have achieved the aforedescribed combination through the provision of relatively large number of parts including the housing, the push button, the detent, and one or more springs.
It would be desirable to provide a seat belt buckle of simplified construction and fewer parts.